Too Good to Miss # 4
In the Library – Too Good to Miss (No. 4)
Contrary to popular belief or mythology, neither do I read every book that arrives at the Library nor do I know every book in the Library. But every now and again a book passes over my desk that makes me sit up and take notice. In that case I might skim it. If the skimming grabs my attention then I might read it. And if I am deeply impressed by it, I will go out of my way to bend every ear possible, to alert everyone to check this book out, for it is too good to miss.
Mitch Chefitz, Rabbi of Temple Israel of Great Miami, is easily one of those alumni who made a deep impression on me during his student years. The insight and wit he brought to everything he touched easily made him stand out.
Back in the early 1970s, when New Age was only just beginning to emerge from Hippiedom, Mitch Chefitz was seriously interested in mysticism. But his interest was not the dry and academic approach of Scholem - No, he wanted to "experience" it first hand...
When I learned that Rabbi Chefitz was writing a Kabbalistic trilogy, I knew I had to look into it. So far only two volumes of the Kabbalah of Moshe Katan have appeared:
The Seventh Telling (published by St. Martin's in 2001) sets the stage. The Twenty-Third Hour (published by St. Martin's in 2002) continues the saga with a cautionary tale about a "succesful" rabbi whose life is ultimately hollow...
While I am wait for the next volume in the trilogy, he wrote another book, The Curse of Blessings: Sometimes the Right Stories Can Change Your Life (Running Brook Press, 2006), a collection of ten wonderful tales that will make you stop and ponder ...
OK, OK, I know a blog is supposed to be brief (or at least I was told so, based on reactions to my last posting!), so I will not write a long megillah but stop here!
I sincerely hope you will read all three of his wonderdful books, and let us hope that he finishes the trilogy bi-meherah vi-yamenu!
Phil Miller
PS To whet your appetite I suggest you visit his web site:
1 Comments:
Phil -- Thanks for your generous words.
The third of the Moshe Katan trilogy has been written. Several times, in fact. It's in the form of a literary suspense thriller, but not yet DaVinci Kodesh enough to find a publisher. I'll need to rethink it and hope to do so once I become interim emeritus at Temple Israel.
The sequel to THE CURSE OF BLESSINGS has also been written, but Running Press won't publish it until "Curse" sells 100K, or so. After your blog post, that's a given.
The German edition of "Curse..." will be published by Herder in January under the title "Das Glück schaut um die Ecke." I guess "curse of blessings" doesn't translate readily into German.
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